Each and Every Document Serves a Purpose Book Review by Museum
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The Sower page 13, February 24, 2019 EXPLORING OUR MUSEUM AND LIBRARY Each and Every Document Serves a Purpose By Lubow Wolynetz, Curator President Thomas Jefferson Recently, our Museum and ritory, Penza city. (A note of inter- and is relieved when he finds out most positive tone, since this was (3rd president of the US, 1801- Library was fortunate to have est is the fact that Penza as a that they are all together and safe the time of Ukrainian independ- 1809) said that it is “the duty of received just a few documents fortress city was built in the 17th in Vienna. He asks them to write ence and the formation of the every good citizen to use all the oppor- belonging to the Sieminowicz century by Ukrainian Cossacks much and often and not to worry Ukrainian National Republic. In tunities which occur to him for pre- and Ulanytsky Families. But what forcibly sent to do the job by the about him, because “maybe we will place of the original words: serving documents relating to the his- wealth of information can be tsarist government). From this live to see the end of this, if the end “Ukraine’s glory has not yet died, nor tory of our country… Memory is the gleaned from them! Their great POW camp, Zenon wrote post- will ever come”. Both postcards her freedom, core of history and shared memories grand nephew and grand nephew cards to his Family who resided were written in perfect Ukrainian Upon us young brethren fate shall yet constitute the core of a common donated them to our institution either in Nadwirna, the city of and in beautiful handwriting, smile,” national past… Documents were cre- for preservation. From these doc- their residence, or in Vienna. Two which reflects the educational he changed to: ated by individuals as well as by a uments we learn not only about of these postcards, the and intellectual level of the “Ukraine and her glory and freedom group… They reflect the private side some aspects of their lives, fami- Sieminowicz Family was able to writer. Months after the Russian have already been reborn, of life as well as the public… Together ly devotion, and concerns, but preserve and donated them to Revolution of March 1917, the Upon us young brethren fate has they make a richly textured tapestry… also about World War I situa- our Library. These postcards are POW’s were set free. Some of already smiled”, They constitute a road map for dis- tions, hardships, and tragedy. of great interest, because they them went to Kyiv and remained thus stating a definite fact of covery”. (Thomas Jefferson to The story is as follows: The were specially produced for there, and formed or joined achievement, not just a wishful Hugh P. Taylor, Oct. 4, 1823; The Family of Oswald Sieminowicz POW correspondence used by Ukrainian Army units to defend maybe. Thomas Jefferson Papers at the from the city of Nadwirna had a the tsarist government. No other the newly formed Ukrainian How did these documents Library of Congress: Series 1) few daughters and a son, Zenon, form of correspondence was National Republic; others went end up in America? One of These thoughts expressed in who became an officer in the allowed and this was stated on home. Zenon returned to west- Zenon’s sisters married Reverend the early 1800’s are still pertinent Austro-Hungarian Army during the card. The postcards were ern Ukraine, and served as a sec- Antonin Ulanytsky. In 1913 the to this day, elucidating and under- World War I. When the tsarist dated August 18th and August ond lieutenant in the Hetman Reverend, his wife and children scoring the importance of Russian army occupied Western 25th, 1917. They were written to Mazepa regiment of the Galician emigrated to the US. Father archival preservation, to which Ukraine, Zenon, as well as other Zenon’s father and Zenon’s Army. Sometime later, he was Ulanytsky served in many parish- our Museum and Library is soldiers, was captured and sent to Family. In the postcards Zenon wounded and died from his es in PA, some in NY, NJ, CT. In devoted. a POW camp in the Saransk ter- expresses concern for the Family, wounds, probably in the 1920s. 1927 he was even sent to With these two postcards we Vancouver, BC, to organize a also received a small publication parish. Apparently, Family mem- (almanac style) entitled “Sichova bers in Ukraine and America Zoria”, (Sich Star), with the sub- were in contact with each other. heading “illustrated Ukrainian More than likely, during the inter- Chasoslov for the year 1919, for the war years, some members of the use and study of Ukrainian youth and Ulanytsky Family might have vis- adults” published in 1919 in ited their homeland and brought Kolomyia. All proceeds from the some family keepsakes with them sale of this publication were to go back to America. As partial proof to help fathers, mothers, widows, of this might be a pressed flower and orphans of the Ukrainian in a glassine envelope inserted in Sich Riflemen, who perished in the 1919 publication with a note the fight for freedom for the written below it “flower from Ukrainian nation. On the inside grandfather’s and grandmother’s of the title page of this booklet is grave”. Apparently, on one of the a dedication to Zenon visits to their homeland descen- Sieminowicz, written by his dants of the Sieminowicz Family Stanyslaviv high school professor, brought back to America the Prokip Rybchuk, who was also booklet, family photographs, and the editor of the booklet. The some documents. Thanks to the publication contains a monthly foresight of certain descendants calendar, information about of these two Families, all of these weights and measures, religious items are now preserved for pos- and patriotic songs, and the his- terity. tory of Ukraine. Among the This is yet another example patriotic songs, foremost is the of how important it is to preserve A postcard Zenon Sieminowicz sent to his “dearest family” from Penza, Russian Empire, dated August 25, 1917. Ukrainian anthem. Interestingly, family documents, because they Ukrainian Museum and Library of Stamford the editor decided to change the are also a valuable part of our his- words of the first stanza to a torical legacy. ! Book Review by Museum Director Msgr. John Terlecky ship on the life and legacy of Bishop The book serves as both a biography from both clerical and lay circles in this Constantine Bohachevsky of Philadelphia, of Bishop Bohachevsky, as well as an new land and survived with a steady hand who was the only bishop-eparch of our assessment of the trials that he under- and an unflinching spiritual character. It Ukrainian Catholic Church in the United went in service to the Church and to a was only in the 1930s that structure States from 1924 to 1956 (the time of the fledging immigrant community far from began to take shape of his vision for this separation of the Stamford Eparchy from Eastern Galicia, in a country where to be church in a new and foreign land. New that of Philadelphia), and its first Catholic meant you were Latin or Roman crises arose with the suppression of the Metropolitan-Archbishop of Catholic. Mother Church in its homeland both Philadelphia from 1958 to his death on The book presents the formation of under the Polish rule of pacification of January 6, 1961 (Christmas Eve on the the character of this gifted churchman Galicia and the two Soviet occupations of Julian Calendar). It is written by his niece from his early priestly years of service in the same territory, separated only by the in fine respect of the character and work Lviv and Peremyshl (presently called Nazi invasions of Eastern Europe and of her uncle – the author herself is known Przemysl on worldwide maps of Poland) World War II. He became the main in academic surroundings as an American during the 1910s and 1920. It particularly voice of our Church in the diaspora fol- University professor and a Fulbright captures his relationship with Bishop lowing its forced suppression in the Scholar. It is this latter fact that provides Iosafat Kotsylovskyi of the Peremysl homeland in 1945. He had to meet the the book with relentless hours of scholar- Eparchy as his vicar general from 1918 to needs of displaced refugees (both priests ship using archival resources that were 1924. In 1924, he was secretly consecrat- and laity) in German and Austrian camps available to her from resources in ed a bishop and sent to a new missionary and preserved for many a lifesaving exis- Stamford, CT and Washington, DC, from territory: to serve as the jurisdictional tence. the Vatican, and from state archives in exarch/bishop for Ukrainian Greek There is so much that can be said of Ukrainian Bishop, American Church: Lviv and Poland. Catholics whose roots were from Eastern the character of this noble churchman in Constantine Bohachevsky and The Ukrainian This book far outweighs any previous Galicia. scanning through a book of over five hun- Catholic Church by Martha Bohachevsky- works written on the history of the Thus begins over thirty-five years of dred pages and six decades of ministry Chomiak. (Washington, DC: The Ukrainian Catholic Church in the United dedicated service to his Church and his that cannot be adequately addressed in Catholic University of America Press, States. Other books seem like mere his- people in the United States – a time when this review. 2018, $75.00) torical surveys in comparison to this he inherited a church that was chaotic in This is an exemplary work of scholar- work formatted as a critical biography.